=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2004/03= /27/MNG525SDSL1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, March 27, 2004 (SF Chronicle) Oakland, S.F. air traffic faces gridlock by 2013, FAA warns/Bay Area airpor= ts on list of 11 needing expanded capacity Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Both San Francisco and Oakland international airports will be overwhelmed by air traffic by 2013 unless they are expanded, the Federal Aviation Administration says. The Bay Area airports are among 11 commercial airports nationwide that will need to add capacity -- by expanding either runways or terminals -- within nine years, according to an FAA study expected to be released next month. Results of the study were discussed Thursday at an FAA aviation forecast conference in Washington, D.C. FAA spokesman Donn Walker said the airport capacity study looked at the nation's 300 largest commercial airports and used population projections and socio-economic factors as well as air industry trends such as the increasing popularity of leisure travel and the increasing popularity of low-cost airlines. It also factored in already-planned expansions of airport terminals or runways, he said. Officials at SFO and Oakland airport said Friday that they were not surprised to make the list and realized they would need runway expansions to handle anticipated growth in air travel. A controversial plan to build new runways into the bay at SFO was ground= ed last spring because of a steep plunge in air travel at the airport since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Mike McCarron, SFO spokesman, said the runway project was on indefinite hold until air traffic rebounds significantly. Airport officials expect it will take another two to three years for air travel to return to pre-Sept. 11 levels, he said. But the FAA overcrowding prediction "matches our projections," he said. "It seems very reasonable." At Oakland International Airport, spokeswoman Cyndy Johnson said a proje= ct to add five gates will begin in April. But she said that as Oakland's air travel, which has soared in the past few years, continued to grow, it would probably require runway expansion. Oakland's runways are at 65 percent of capacity, and while that's not a problem now, "as we start to fill that up, we are going to start to feel that, " she said. "As the airport gets busier and busier, there will be longer waits on the runway." Oakland has no runway expansion plans, but officials have studied their options, she said. One calls for an inland runway on existing airport property. The other, certain to generate more opposition, would involve construction of a runway extending into the bay. An upcoming airport master plan may take a new look at runway expansion, Johnson said. Five airports are already at capacity, according to the study: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Chicago O'Hare, New York La Guardia, Newark, N.J., Liberty and Philadelphia. According to the FAA, airports that will need expansion by 2013, in addition to Oakland and SFO, include Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena; Long Beach; John Wayne/Orange County; Albuquerque; New York John F. Kennedy; Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Fla.; Houston Hobby; Palm Beach, Fla.; San Antonio; and Tucson. Even with planned expansion, Chicago O'Hare, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia will need further expansion by 2013, according to the study. By 2020, 43 airports will be overcrowded, according to the FAA. The Associated Press contributed to this report.E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -------------------------------------------= --------------------------- Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle